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His name came out in a long, broken cry.

“Theo, oh fuck, Theo…”

That sound, holy God, the sound of Phoebe’s orgasm swallowing his name, he’d never heard anything more beautiful. He came hard with his own shattered groan, shaking and sweating.

Their harsh breathing was the only sound in the room.

What the hell had they just done?

Whatever it was, it was a very dangerous game.

It was possible that she may never recover from what had just happened. It was also possible that the whole thing had been an epically bad idea.

But what else was she supposed to do?

Every time she and Theo looked at each other, it felt like the world might go up in flames. It was unsustainable. It was one thing when they had their own corners to retreat to but not when they were forced together like this. Not after last night in the hotel and that damn kiss in the woods.

What was a dryad supposed to do?

So, this seemed like a reasonable option. A little mutual masturbation to just calm everyone down. Unfortunately, that happened to be the best orgasm of her entire life and the sound of Theo’s filthy words in that low growl were still echoing in her brain. She couldn’t have foreseen that. Could she?

She pressed her pillow over her face, refusing to breathe in the smell of Theo and her own damn arousal. He’d muttered something about cleaning up and slunk out of the room right after their little experiment and hadn’t returned yet.

Maybe if she pressed this pillow down hard enough, she would suffocate and not have to face Theo ever again. That too seemed like a reasonable option right now.

Phoebe groaned and tossed the pillow aside. She grabbed a fresh pair of underwear from her bag and pulled them on. She got back into bed and turned to face the wall. If she was asleep when he got back, then they’d never have to speak of this again.

She squeezed her eyes shut, but she wasn’t stupid enough to think she’d actually doze off. In fact, coming next to Theo had only made her hornier for him. Now she wanted him to do all the things he’d growled into the darkness.

What the hell had she been thinking?

She could hear the voices of her dryad sisters. Why not just fuck the werewolf and get over it? She almost had. Plenty of times over the years. And then a year ago she was fully prepared to give him everything and when that didn’t work out, giving him up entirely had proven to be impossible.

Theo had had his chance. They could have been more, but he couldn’t do it. Realizing that had hurt bad enough the first time. She didn’t feel like repeating it. If only she could remember that. If only she could cling to the pain of that rejection, when instead all she really wanted to cling to was Theo.

The sound of the door creaking open broke through the silence of the night and through Phoebe’s thoughts. Theo slipped back into the room and settled into the bed below hers. Thank God they hadn’t had to share one tonight.

“You awake?” he whispered.

Phoebe stayed quiet. She couldn’t talk about this right now. Couldn’t explain why it had been a terrible idea. If she opened her mouth now, she would confess everything, every feeling she had for this man, everything she’d never said. She felt raw and torn open.

Theo sighed and rolled onto his back.

“That was…”

He trailed off, but Phoebe desperately wanted him to finish his sentence.

That was amazing?

That was the best not-really-sex I’ve ever had?

That was a mistake?

That was terrifying and exhilarating and tempting and such a bad fucking idea?

Her mind helpfully filled in the blank with a million options, but Theo did not.

“Goodnight, Fee.” Was all he said.